# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has raised £3.8m and has announced new offices in London.

The investment, led by Balderton Capital, is part of a £5m Series B funding round and will see the British company expand both across the UK and internationally.

The remaining £1.2m will be raised in true Crowdcube fashion through a crowdfunding campaign which opens on July 22nd.

Expansion

The Exeter-based company is planning to double its team size to 50 and open offices in both London and Scotland.

Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder , is excited to expand their "pioneering and award-winning service".

This investment, alongside the crowd, puts us in an even stronger position to provide essential growth finance for businesses and inspire a new generation of investors.

Glownet secures £2m Series A to bring smart tech to events

Since its launch in 2011, Crowdcube has raised over £30m for startups, more than half of which has come so far in 2014.

Growing fintech

It's been a strong 2014 for Britain's booming fintech market with a number of substantial investments.

In June, portfolio management company Nutmeg raised £32m following TransferWise's $25m funding round led by Richard Branson.

Balderton have experience in fintech having previously backed Zopa, Nutmeg, GoCardless and Wonga.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Crowdcube raises £3.8m as they open London offices - UKTN (UK Tech News)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has raised £3.8m and has announced new offices in London. The investment, led by Balderton Capital, is part of a £5m Series B funding round and will see the British company expand both across the UK and internationally. The remaining £1.2m will be raised in true Crowdcube fashion through a crowdfunding campaign ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Furniture marketplace Swoon Editions has announced a £4m Series A funding round from Octopus and Index Ventures.

The London-based company, whose team has grown from three to 36 in twelve months, will use the investment to grow their community and increase the number of designs on their platform.

Swoon Editions will also create 20 new roles in the company. The majority will be based in London but they will also have new staff in Vietnam, India and China.

The investment follows a £1.2m seed round in May 2013.

Cutting costs

The company, which was founded in March 2012, is a marketplace (with a twist) for high-end furniture.

It functions in a very similar way to Made.com who cut out the middle men and function without warehouses to bring you furniture at a lower cost.

The difference with Swoon Editions is that they gauge interest in products before putting them into production.

Not your usual marketplace

It previews a limited edition design every day to its online community and those that draw high demand then make it through to 'Full Editions'.

A shipping container's worth of the product is ordered and it is put on sale towards the latter stages of production so that it can be delivered straight to customers when it arrives in the UK.

By comparison, Made.com combines all the orders for a piece every 7 days and then puts that exact number into production.

Brian Harrison, CEO and cofounder explains:

We believe people should be able to own beautiful furniture without paying six times what it costs to make.

We cut out unnecessary retail overheads and gain further efficiencies by only producing pieces we know are in demand.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Swoon Editions raises £4m to bring you beautiful furniture - UKTN (UK Tech News)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Furniture marketplace Swoon Editions has announced a £4m Series A funding round from Octopus and Index Ventures. The London-based company, whose team has grown from three to 36 in twelve months, will use the investment to grow their community and increase the number of designs on their platform.

# data[].attributes.headline
Apple Teams Up With IBM For Huge, Expansive Enterprise Push

# data[].attributes.subject
Apple Teams Up With IBM For Huge, Expansive Enterprise Push

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Apple has announced a strategic partnership with IBM that will see the enterprise giant transfer over 150 of their enterprise and IT apps and tools to Apple platforms natively, and will also have IBM selling Apple iPhones and iPads to its business clients all over the world. In an interview with CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty both told the network that Apple and IBM are like "puzzle pieces" that fit perfectly together.

"We knew that we needed to have a partner that deeply understood each of the verticals," Cook told CNBC. "That had scale, that had a lot of dirt under their fingernails so to speak from really understanding each of these verticals and we found a kindred spirit in IBM."

Apple touts the access the partnership gives them to IBM's big data and analytics capabilities, and talks about how the apps that it produces with IBM will be developed "from the ground up for iPhone and iPad." These apps will supplement new cloud services aimed at iOS specifically, including security and analytics solutions, and device management tools for large-scale MDM deployments.

The so-called IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions will see apps created that are designed to give specific industries solutions tailored to their unique problems - Cook and Rometty described in speaking to CNBC apps tailored to pilots, for example. To do this, Apple cites the expertise resident in over 100,000 IBM industry and domain consultants as a valuable resource in making apps tailored to different needs. This isn't about owning the general office; it's about turning Apple's software and devices into the core functional software in every vertical possible.

Apple has made headway on its own in the enterprise, thanks in large part to the iPad, the iPhone and the trend of bring-your-own-devices that we've seen arise over the last few years in workforces around the world. And while it has made efforts to highlight the advantages of its platform for business users, this is a very different thing and involves a huge, targeted effort to sell through to enterprise users of all stripes. BlackBerry, in other words, has every reason in the world to be terrified.

Industries Apple and IBM look to be tackling first include retail, healthcare, banking, travel, transportation, telecommunications and insurance (among others) per the official press release, with a planned rollout starting this fall and continuing in earnest through 2015. The solution is designed to be end-to-end, covering everything from cloud storage to security and MDM, as well as private app stores and deployments. In many ways, this sounds like what Google is trying to do with Play for Enterprise, but backed by the expertise of a partner that already has extensive expertise identifying and addressing the needs of enterprise customers.

AppleCare for Enterprise is also part of the arrangement, and will provide IT customers with 24-hour, all-day support via phone and online, while IBM's workforce will offer on-site support as well. iPhones and iPads will be sold by IBM to enterprise buyers, too, and those arrangements will include available leasing options. Apple currently offers business and volume sales, but it sounds like under IBM these will be more exhaustive and cover a wider range.

Apple incorporated a lot of new features for enterprise and education with changes introduced back in February, and promises additional improvements in iOS 8 via new means of informing users about device configuration, management or restrictions, and new security features and tools.

As industry analyst TIm Bajarin points out, this is a blow to both Google and Microsoft in terms of the enterprise aspirations of both of their mobile platforms - Apple already managed to disrupt enterprise IT with its devices, and working together with IBM essentially guarantees continued growth in this key market, regardless of any other potential outcomes.

Google also announced a key new partnership this year regarding its enterprise mobility efforts - at its I/O developer conference last month it detailed how it would be bringing Knox to all of Android thanks to the help of Samsung, to be recast as 'Android for Work,' offering a way to partition personal and work data on Android smartphones and tablets in much the same way they're kept separate on BlackBerry 10 devices using 'BlackBerry Balance.' Google Play will be able to offer business-specific approved apps, which can be sold in bulk for enterprise-wide fleet purchasing, Google revealed.

At first glance, Apple's partnership looks to be a more far-reaching overture to enterprise than that Google is making with Android L, but we'll have to wait and watch how both arrangements shake out when they start to hit the market proper this coming fall.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Apple Teams Up With IBM For Huge, Expansive Enterprise Push

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apple has announced a strategic partnership with IBM that will see the enterprise giant transfer over 150 of their enterprise and IT apps and tools to Apple platforms natively, and will also have IBM selling Apple iPhones and iPads to its business clients all over the world.

# data[].attributes.body
Swap FuelBand points for swag

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Free Nike gear sitting in the middle of a public place? This will either go down in the books as a damned clever marketing move or a great way to cause a panic.

Early this morning, we started hearing whispers of a vending machine that had been plopped down somewhere in New York. But there's a twist! Two twists, really. This vending machine only dishes out Nike gear... and it doesn't accept cash. To get something out of the machine, you'd need to cough up some points from a Nike FuelBand.

Before you strap on your FuelBand and head out on a quest for swag, two things to know:

The machine is mostly filled with things like socks, shirts, and hats. Free stuff is free stuff, but don't expect to walk away with a pair of classic Jordans or anything.

We've seen a few people mention that it only counts Fuel points from today, not the points you've built up over time. So you'll need to move around a bit first. Apparently things in the machine start at around 500 fuel points, with the "good stuff" going for 1000+ points.

Nike has been tweeting out hints as to where the vending machine is located, but lurking around Twitter and Instagram helped to narrow it down a bit.
[Image: matthewdivita on Instagram]
In the background of this photo, it's pretty easy to spot the sign that sits just above the Manhattan end of the Williamsburg Bridge. We popped into Google Maps to try to figure out exactly where the photo was taken, and it looks like it's right at the corner of Delancey and Clinton. A quick Twitter search for "nike vending Clinton" leads to this Instagram post, which seems to confirm that conclusion.

According to one of the first tips we got about the vending machine, it'll change locations around midnight tonight.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nike's Secret New York Vending Machine Trades Free Swag For FuelBand Points

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Free Nike gear sitting in the middle of a public place? This will either go down in the books as a damned clever marketing move or a great way to cause a panic. Nike just hid a vending machine i...

# data[].attributes.body
NOTHS angle?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
EBay: the site is to host platform for old-school auction house Sotheby's

The brand alliance will kick off with live auctions streamed from Sotheby's New York headquarters, with consumers able to make real-time bids from anywhere across the globe.

Sotheby's chief operating officer Bruno Vinciguerra said that the auction house aimed to reach the "broadest possible audience around the world" as a result of the deal. Sotheby's seeks to build on its 36% growth in online sales during 2013, when online shoppers bid for 17% of total lots.

Although no date has been set for its launch, Sotheby's said that in the autumn, initially 18 product categories would be covered by the agreement, including 20th century design, watches, jewellery, prints, wine and photographs.

The deal marks the 270-year-old auction house's attempt to play catch-up with rival Christie's, which is more active in online sales. Sotheby's has made online brand alliances in the past, which have failed to take off. In 2000, a short-lived deal with Amazon came to an end.

The brand tie-up marks an interesting development in the coming together of online and offline retail, merging old-school with new-school.

EBay is set to reveal its earnings on Wednesday, while last year Amazon announced that it would sell works by artist including Salvador Dali on its website.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
EBay to host online auction house platform for Sotheby's

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The brand alliance will kick off with live auctions streamed from Sotheby's New York headquarters, with consumers able to make real-time bids from anywhere across the globe. Sotheby's chief operating officer Bruno Vinciguerra said that the auction house aimed to reach the "broadest possible audience around the world" as a result of the deal.

# data[].attributes.headline
Was Airbnb's very public new logo reveal a good idea?

# data[].attributes.subject
Was Airbnb's very public new logo reveal a good idea?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is it balls, vagina, or both? Airbnb logo sparks wave of internet parodies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oliver Wainwright: The apartment-rental website launches its grown-up logo to a wave of ridicule - as well as claims of plagiarism

# data[].attributes.headline
Air Type - a new keyboardless device for tablets

# data[].attributes.subject
Air Type - a new keyboardless device for tablets

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you don't have video in your content mix, you're missing out. It's simpler to make than ever, ...

Want to know how to make infographics? Keep it simple. Here's how to make sure you tell the strongest story possible-with less.

Data can help you tell a powerful story, but there are many ways to visually present that story. Here's how to choose the best data visualization format.

Here are 5 ways to turn your culture into incredible content.

If you need a data visualization agency and don't know where to start, Column Five's got you. Here are 8 useful questions to help you find the right partner.

Want to create unique, engaging experiences for your readers? Find out why interactive stories are great tools for marketers.

Here are four ways to focus on creating engaging content and not just pumping out content to fill your editorial calendar.

Great data stories all around you; you just need to know where to look. Here are 9 awesome data sources to explore right now.

In this interview, Laura Winkenbach of Zenefits tells Column Five why content is the key to creating strong customer relationships.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you don't have video in your content mix, you're missing out. It's simpler to make than ever, ... Want to know how to make infographics? Keep it simple. Here's how to make sure you tell the strongest story possible-with less. Data can help you tell a powerful story, but there are many ways to visually present that story.

# data[].attributes.headline
Most people in the developed world are happy - but we wish life was simpler

# data[].attributes.subject
Most people in the developed world are happy - but we wish life was simpler

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More than three quarters of people in the developed world say they are happy, but a clear majority wish their life was simpler, according to a study of adults in 20 of the world's leading powers.

Confounding theories about the rising tide of depression and the withering effect of economic rout, the Ipsos Mori survey of more than 16,000 people worldwide found that 77% were happy, a rate that rose to 88% in Sweden, 85% in Australia and 83% in the US.

Happiness levels were lower in Europe, with Spain the bottom of the pile. Only 59% of Spaniards said they were happy. Britain was close to the average at 76%.

Weighed against surprising levels of self-declared happiness, the report found large measures of gloom about the future, about the growing pace of globalisation and the effects of inequality. But when people were asked about their personal lives, families and their local communities there was a more sanguine response.

"Against a pessimistic backdrop, this report shows the global public's tendency towards nostalgia, allied to a strong sense that traditions are important, and a desire for a slower pace of life and simplification," said Ben Page, Ipsos Mori's chief executive.

The research company's study questioned people across 10 broad areas, probing attitudes towards the digital revolution, healthcare, generational antagonism and immigration.

Although 77% said the world was changing too fast and more than half said they wished they could slow down the pace of their lives, a clear majority (61%) said technology was part of the solution, not part of the problem. That approval rating rose to 80% in China. France was the most techno-sceptic country.

There was a more nuanced view of globalisation, which has been blamed for everything from destroying jobs in Europe to emasculating national governments and playing into the hands of amoral multinational companies. People in emerging economic powers overwhelmingly agreed that globalisation was good for them (China 81%, India 71%, Brazil 68%). But in the richest nations there was a very different view: in France, only 24% of people approved of globalisation, a rate that inched up to 37% in the US and 41% in Britain.

Conversely, people in emerging economies feel under far greater pressure to make money and make a show of their success. When asked whether they felt under pressure to be successful and make money, 68% of Chinese agreed. Only 25% of Italians did.

Respondents complained about the intensity of their digital lives and the amount of screen time they subjected themselves to every day. In all, 78% of Chinese, 71% of Britons, 71% of Australians and 67% of Americans agreed with the statement, "I am constantly looking at screens these days".

Curiously, people are far more optimistic about the prospects for their families and local communities than they are for the world. A total of 59% expressed an upbeat outlook when asked about how their families would fare over the next year. But only 22% of people said they were optimistic about prospects for the world as a whole, a proportion that fell to 20% in the US, 15% in Britain and 6% in France.

The researchers questioned 16,000 adults in the autumn of 2013: 1,000 in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Britain and the US, and approximately 500 in Argentina, Belgium, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
77% in developed world are happy but wish life was simpler, says poll

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than three quarters of people in the developed world say they are happy, but a clear majority wish their life was simpler, according to a study of adults in 20 of the world's leading powers.

# data[].attributes.headline
How digital relationships can improve brand loyalty

# data[].attributes.subject
How digital relationships can improve brand loyalty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What makes a brand successful? Is it getting the same people to buy your products more often or simply encouraging as many people as possible to put them in their basket in the first place?

Australian professor of marketing science Byron Sharp suggested in his 2010 book 'How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know' that companies should focus on a broad reach to grab as many people as possible, and used academic research to prove his theory, building on the ideas of marketing scientist Andrew Ehrenberg.

"A Byron Sharp [-influenced] ad is really broad. It doesn't say 'If you've bought X, you'll like this product'; it just says 'Come [into the brand],'" says Justin Gibbons, creative director at Arena Media, who has done a study on Sharp's theory and how new digital applications might influence it. "If a person had never eaten a chocolate bar and suddenly discovered a Mars bar, in the first few months they might find their loyalty level at one bar a week and stick to that. Sharp says no amount of nudging [people to buy more] will change that."

Put another way, competitive brands hardly differ in their loyalty levels; their success is due to the difference in their user bases. "If you want to win a general election, you just need someone's vote. You don't need them to become a party member or have a subscription," Gibbons says, summarising Sharp's theory.

Gibbons does not believe that endless discounts and promotions are effective in encouraging people to buy more. "Couponing, on the whole, just doesn't work. The cat only needs feeding seven days a week and there's only so many times you can wash your hair. People's consumption patterns are perfectly natural and right," he says, adding that around 80 per cent of any brand's volume comes from its light users.

Sharp's theories have influenced marketing: Gibbons says he changed the way clients Sainsbury's and BT communicated by reducing their advertising in the late 1990s. However, Sharp's theory was based on an analogue world before the explosion of digital channels, and Gibbons wanted to determine their impact on customer loyalty and whether they can increase frequency of purchase.

According to Arena Media's study, 'How to grow brands in a digital age', digital media such as apps, blogs and emails can help shift loyalty by 11 per cent across 10 categories, including books, betting and pizza delivery, when looking at the number of times a customer buys a brand. The study advocates 'virtual availability', or making products accessible on any channel. "In a grocery aisle, [the choice of product] is about physical availability and Sharp says people choose the ones they know well enough to buy," says Gibbons. "The new idea is virtual availability: am I close to it and is it accessible to me? That seems to be the new driver of growth."

The agency spoke to more than 1,000 consumers from a nationally representative sample for the study, asking how many times they had bought brands over a fixed period and how they had done so - online, offline or via an app, for example.

In the case of betting, people are likely to spend much more, and more frequently, via apps than through other channels. On average, consumers placed 8.9 bets via an app in the previous three months, versus 8.2 via a brand's website and 6.9 in store. The average claimed spend on an app in that period was £111.70, compared with £82.16 in a shop and £81.21 online.

"Betting used to be a pain as you had to go to the bookies," says Gibson, "but now it is easier to be impulsive. Marketing had to work really hard to sell you in [to doing something], but now it just nudges you in all the time."

For book buying it is electronic texts rather than ecommerce channels that are having the most impact. The frequency with which people buy physical books from Amazon is surprisingly similar to that of high street retailers, with customers saying they bought 5.1 books online and 4.9 books offline in the previous 12 months. But the figure is much higher for downloading ebooks, at 8.7.

Gibbons says: "When people buy ebooks, their frequency shoots up. If I finish reading a book on Kindle, it nudges me to buy the next one. If I finish a physical book, there's no prompt to go back to Amazon. Price is an influence too as ebooks are cheaper, but the nudge is a very effective disruptive tool. This is effortless purchasing."

The study also looks at the impact of digital channels on takeaway pizza orders. Domino's, Pizza Hut and Papa John's have all experienced the 'digital effect', with customers ordering 3.4 times via online means and 3.1 times offline over the six months. Twenty-one per cent of those who order Domino's via its website and apps say the brand communicates with them "a lot", compared with 13 per cent ordering offline. Domino's communicates with consumers via its apps, emails and vouchers page, and aims for seamless access between its retail channels. Using data, the pizza chain also targets promotions at local customers to encourage in-store purchase.

Marketing director Simon Wallis told Marketing Week last month: "Now we're able to look at what they're doing when they're out and about. If we could target the lunchtime occasion far more efficiently with people in and around the store, it could open new opportunities by increasing 'carry-out' sales for us."

For Sharp himself, the figures in the study simply show that people buying via online or app are heavier users. "This is called a selection effect," he says, speaking to Marketing Week. "People who eat a lot of pizza are more likely to download the app and use it. Why would an infrequent user bother?"

These new digital channels should not totally replace broadcast media, says Gibbons. "Marketers can start to think it is all about microtargeting but you still have to get the brand out to as many people as possible. The battleground for virtual availability is Google, being in search and organising a brand around digital such as ecommerce and apps."

For Nicky Whichelow, marketing director at funeral director GreenAcres Woodland Burials, being available via search is crucial. Using a combination of SEO, local newspaper advertising and content, she has increased visitor numbers to the brand's website from 500 a month to more than 5,000, while reducing its cost per acquisition.

"The availability of our content has a major impact on [people's] willingness to come and buy from us," she says ( see Marketers' response, below).

For Gibbons, broadcast media combined with digital methods can bring Sharp's theory up to date. "Online shoppers are behaving differently from their non-online counterparts: they're consuming a bit more frequently. You still need lots of users but digital seems to be proving itself as a way to dial up their behaviour. Byron Sharp's not wrong, but he needs updating."

Marketers' response

Nicky Whichelow, Marketing director, GreenAcres Woodland Burials

Byron Sharp said 'Don't segment your market; it is just about being available,' but I don't agree.

In our industry and being a consumer brand, we have to stand out among all the other noise. If you add the fact that someone is grieving, we have to be head and shoulders above [the others] so the ability to innovate is far more important than our distribution model. By innovating, we find we can stretch our loyalty. Someone will seek a particular brand [and if it is not available] they may not seek a substitute because their relationship with the original brand is so strong.

When it comes to digital, we have used organic search on keywords to make our brand easy to buy. Typing in the brand name or service that we offer has increased exponentially.

Nick Dutch, Head of digital, Domino's

Byron Sharp's theory is still valid for us because penetration is increasingly important in our sector. I'd also agree with the Arena research and leveraging brand loyalty through digital channels, and our research backs it up. Do we see people shopping with us more often through digital? Yes we do. When they shop online, do they spend more money? Yes they do, and we certainly see better conversion rates.

Over the past four years [of being on] mobile, and three of having an app, there has been an overall migration from offline to desktop to mobile. Certainly our most loyal people got there first - apps take up nearly half of our online sales. That is genuinely a representative cut of our customers who are a bit more valuable to us.
METHODOLOGY
Arena Media carried out more than 1,000 online interviews using online research service Toluna, weighting the data to be nationally representative. It asked consumers how often they had bought products from 10 categories in the previous six months and whether these purchases were online or offline.

More shopper behaviour trends

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What makes a brand successful? Is it getting the same people to buy your products more often or simply encouraging as many people as possible to put them in their basket in the first place?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
LONDON: Aldi, the German discount supermarket chain, has been rated as the UK's top brand for the first time in the latest YouGov BrandIndex 2014 mid-year Buzz rankings.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why this is FB's best attempt at e-commerce yet

# data[].attributes.subject
Why this is FB's best attempt at e-commerce yet

# data[].attributes.headline
FB aiming for e-commerce market with 'Buy' button trial

# data[].attributes.subject
FB aiming for e-commerce market with 'Buy' button trial

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Facebook: to allow users to shop without leaving the network with Buy button

The firm revealed it would be testing the button in the US with a "few small and medium-sized businesses", as it looks to help advertisers drive more sales through activity on Facebook.

The social network has also attempted to pre-empt privacy concerns by insisting that no credit or debit card information will be shared with other advertisers.

Facebook said in a blog post: "Today we're beginning to test a new feature to help businesses drive sales through Facebook in News Feed and on Pages.

"With this feature, people on desktop or mobile can click the 'Buy' call-to-action button on ads and Page posts to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook.

"We've built this feature with privacy in mind, and have taken steps to help make the payment experience safe and secure. None of the credit or debit card information people share with Facebook when completing a transaction will be shared with other advertisers, and people can select whether or not they'd like to save payment information for future purchases.

"The current test is limited to a few small and medium-sized businesses in the US. We'll share more information as we gather feedback."

Facebook has been encouraging brands to sell directly through the social network for several years. In 2011, Marketing reported that Asos had become the first brand in Europe to allow users to buy its product range within its Facebook page.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Facebook eyes greater slice of ecommerce market with 'Buy' button trial

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The firm revealed it would be testing the button in the US with a "few small and medium-sized businesses", as it looks to help advertisers drive more sales through activity on Facebook. The social network has also attempted to pre-empt privacy concerns by insisting that no credit or debit card information will be shared with other advertisers.

# data[].attributes.headline
Re-thinking retail - the growth of the concept store

# data[].attributes.subject
Re-thinking retail - the growth of the concept store

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The rise of online shopping has sounded the death knell for many traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers. But innovative brands are reimagining the physical store, turning to magazines and museums for inspiration and creating spaces where the virtual and physical worlds collide.

A new wave of thinking about bricks-and-mortar retail has given rise to a surge in brands experimenting with concept stores. Apple and Burberry have been leading the pack when it comes to creating experience-focused retail for many years. But a wider range of brands is starting to experiment with concepts, and no longer just luxury ones.

General Electric, for example, is currently working with New York concept store Story as part of an exercise to promote one of its products.

Story is built on the concept of treating retail as media, curating its merchandise every month, like a magazine would with content, and getting a brand to sponsor it. This month's theme is "cool" and the products on sale in the store - clothes, jewellery and gadgets - reflect that.

GE, which has partnered with invention platform Quirky for the curation, does not take a revenue share from product sales, but is using the store as a platform to promote a smartphone-controlled air conditioning unit. "A product tells a much bigger story than just a transaction and in Story every item has a long-tail narrative attached to it. That is really what we want to do. Not to enhance every transaction and sell more, but to tell the story behind our work through product, commerce and experience," explains Sam Olstein, global director of innovation at GE.

Nestlé, on the other hand, aims to combine branding with direct-to-customer sales through its KitKat concept store in Japan.

The Chocolatory, located in a Tokyo shopping mall, sells exclusive and unique products, such as Sublime Bitter and Special Sakura Green Tea. Stewart Dryburgh, Nestlé's global marketing head for KitKat , explains that creating unique products taps into the Japanese custom of buying thoughtful gifts for people, helping KitKat build an emotional connection with the consumer and reinforcing positive sentiment around the brand.

The store has attracted a lot of social media attention and requests for versions in other markets. "We did not open the store on a whim, but it is still quite early in evolution and we are doing a lot of testing and learning to understand how best we leverage it in other markets," says Dryburgh.

While e-commerce is rapidly growing, particularly on mobile - eMarketer forecasts worldwide business-to-consumer e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1% this year to reach $1.5tn - not all commerce will shift online. The clicks-versus-bricks debate is wearing thin as more retailers embrace an omni-channel retail. And with eBay and Amazon having both experimented with physical retail concepts, and Google also reportedly planning a museum-style concept store in New York, even the most successful digital brands recognise the importance of physical retail.

People still love to shop as a social occasion, family day out or even holiday, but there is a crucial distinction between the act of shopping and where a purchase is made, says David Womack, executive creative director at R/GA. "Retail serves a number of complex functions beyond moving merchandise. The retail experience is an incredible part of the consideration process, it is just where they do transactions that will shift," he says.

A concept store that leverages technology effectively can close the loop between digital and physical, overcoming the problem of attributing online marketing to offline sales. "As we are able to have single view of the customer from digital to retail, this will change the nature of the [physical] retail experience. Stores will become more like galleries," Womack adds.

Tesco has been exploring omni-channel retail to power a new kind of shopping experience. In South Korea, Tesco created a touchscreen storefront in a subway, enabling commuters to buy groceries while waiting for their train.

"Our focus is on helping our customers shop whenever, however and wherever they chose to," says Paul Wilkinson, head of technology research at Tesco Labs.

"The proliferation of channels, devices and services means that people can shop in a huge variety of ways and they expect a seamlessly connected experience. We are building our business around that," he says.

One of the key challenges retailers face with concept stores is ensuring they add value. They are a big investment and if the technology falters, or the space has no buzz, it could create negative brand perception.

Logistics will also prove to be another battlefield. With delivery times speeding up - Amazon potentially will deploy delivery drones - bricks-and-mortar retailers will no longer be able to depend on instant gratification to give them the edge over their online competitors.

For Rachel Shechtman, founder of Story, the future of retail lies in experience, community, differentiation and mass customisation.

"We are barely scratching the surface, and while bricks-and-mortar is often referred to as dying, I think it will only give way to a new frontier with endless and untapped potential, light years beyond looking at sales per square foot," she says.
To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled 'Advertisement feature'. Find out more .sign up free for Media Network membership Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rethinking retail: why brands are embracing the rise of the concept store

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The rise of online shopping has sounded the death knell for many traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers. But innovative brands are reimagining the physical store, turning to magazines and museums for inspiration and creating spaces where the virtual and physical worlds collide. A new wave of thinking about bricks-and-mortar retail has given rise to a surge in brands experimenting with concept stores.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As European consumers move online, retail banks will have to follow. The problem is that most banks aren't ready.

Across Europe, retail banks have digitized only 20 to 40 percent of their processes; 90 percent of European banks invest less than 0.5 percent of their total spending on digital. As a result, most have relatively shallow digital offerings focused on enabling basic customer transactions.

Neither customers nor digital upstarts are likely to wait for retail banks to catch up. Recent analysis shows that over the next five years, more than two-thirds of banking customers in Europe are likely to be "self-directed" and highly adapted to the online world. In fact, these same consumers already take great advantage of digital technologies in other industries-booking flights and holidays, buying books and music, and increasingly shopping for groceries and other goods via digital channels. Once a credible digital-banking proposition exists, customer adoption will be breathtakingly fast and digital laggards will be left exposed.

We estimate that digital transformation will put upward of 30 percent of the revenues of a typical European bank in play, particularly in high-turnover products such as personal loans and payments. We also estimate that banks can remove 20 to 25 percent of their cost base by leveraging this digital shift to transform how they process and service. Put together, the economics of a digital bank will give it a vast competitive edge over a traditional incumbent. It's fair to say that getting digital banking right is a do-or-die challenge.

So why are European banks not aggressively moving in this direction? One of the reasons for the slower transformation in banking is that bank executives have tended to view digital transformation too narrowly, often as stand-alone front-end features such as mobile apps or online product-comparison charts. Commonly lost in the mix are the accompanying changes to frontline tools, internal processes, data assets, and staff capabilities needed to stitch everything together into a coherent front-to-back proposition. Although the journey may begin "digitally" on an online form or payment calculator, it does not remain so for long, as anyone who has taken on a mortgage can attest. Instead, the onerous documentation requirements and significant manual intervention that characterize the typical bank's mortgage process soon emerge. This can seem jarring to customers accustomed to more seamless interactions with nonbanking services.

Some banks point to security and risk concerns as justification for their slow approach, but this is a contrast to other industries. The airline industry, arguably beset by even stronger risk concerns, has automated just about every aspect of its customer experience in the last ten years, boosting customer service without compromising safety. Banks can do the same. What's more, the effort is likely to pay for itself-and then some.

Where exactly is the value in digital banking?

Our modeling indicates that European retail banks that pursue a full digital transformation, pulling all improvement levers, can realize improvements in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of more than 40 percent over the next five years. Almost two-thirds of this potential value comes from the impact of digital on the cost base and loss provisions rather than from revenue uplift, which is why a focus beyond front-end investments is critical.

While the cost-saving opportunity for banks comes in many forms and touches every area of the bank, there are two areas that are especially significant and represent the bulk of the value: automation of servicing and fulfillment processes and migration of front-end activity to digital channels. On automation, European banks can realize 40 to 90 percent cost reductions in a range of internal processes through careful deployment of work-flow tools and self-servicing capabilities for customers and staff. On front-end transformation, beyond diverting existing branch activity into digital channels, digital tools can also be used to augment frontline servicing (for example, with iPad forms rather than paper forms, or videoconference access to specialists to maximize their utilization)-easily doubling staff productivity and enhancing the customer experience.

The potential for revenue uplift is not quite so concentrated. Rather, European banks need to pursue a broader range of opportunities, including improved customer targeting via digital marketing and microsegmentation, more dynamic, tailored pricing and product bundling, third-party integration (for example, with Facebook), product white-labeling, appropriate distribution via aggregators, and, of course, establishment of distinctive mobile and online sales offerings. In the near term, we expect shorter-tenure, high-turnover products like credit cards, loans, and payments to see the most digital transformation. In fact, these are the areas most under attack from new digital entrants. Looking further ahead, bank accounts and mortgages, which together drive more than 50 percent of many banks' revenues and usually provide "sticky" annuity streams, will be brought into the fray. Given this development, European banks will need to carefully watch the evolution of their digital share and the success rate of digital products in the front book. The future replacement rate of these annuity streams will be increasingly dependent on digital capabilities. In essence, it's about securing the future and not being lulled into a false sense of security based on the back book.

How to go digital without going crazy

Going digital doesn't have to mean millions in new investment dollars or convulsive upheaval in IT. Sizable investment will no doubt be necessary in some areas, but in general, many of the elements banks need to exploit this opportunity may already be in place. Banks just need to leverage them better and invest in these targeted ways.

Maximize the use of existing technology. Many banks have widely deployed imaging and work-flow systems, online servicing, capacity-management software, interactive-voice-response systems, and other connectivity and work-management technologies. But they're not using them widely or well enough. One European bank, for instance, installed a new high-resolution-imaging platform but never fully enforced its use. Customer-service representatives continued to send documentation by fax, and the poor image quality led to significant inefficiency in downstream processing. Addressing this problem requires systematic evaluation of existing capabilities, their usage rates, and barriers to adoption.

Apply lightweight technology interventions. Banks can generate significant performance gains with surprisingly small targeted investments. Examples include wider deployment of tools like e-forms and work-flow systems, which can be implemented relatively rapidly, sometimes without deep integration into complex legacy architectures. The relationship managers and underwriters at one bank, for instance, got together with IT to design a stripped-down and user-friendly online loan application. The form automatically adapts to input data and guides underwriters on which risk processes to follow. Another European bank sped up mortgage decisions by tweaking its existing application to follow standard rules, such as minimum down-payment thresholds and rating data, which allowed applications to be scored and routed faster, with less manual intervention.

Place a few selective big bets. There will be places where you need to pursue more sweeping transformation investments. However, instead of trying to automate every aspect of a given process or product, home in on the few that drive the most capacity consumption and give the greatest return. Do not build a gleaming digital empire for the sake of it. One European bank that went through a systematic mapping of its processes for automation potential found fewer than ten processes that represented the bulk of full-time-employee capacity. In these targeted areas, the bank embarked on more radical investments, retiring old platforms, deploying new digital solutions, and reinventing the way the process works.

Address the people dynamics

No amount of technology will help if you don't address the people issues driven by digital. Success requires more than rethinking technology; it requires rethinking the organizational model, too, especially when it comes to skills, structure, incentives, and performance management. The following steps can help.

Set the right structure and incentives. There's more than one way to organize around digital. Some European banks appoint a head of digital with profit-and-loss responsibility. Others use a center-of-excellence (COE) model to develop offerings that the rest of the business can take and deploy. Either model can work, but you must make concerted efforts to realign incentives to ensure collaboration. For instance, creating a COE but not giving the business digital targets often leads to a lot of technology being successfully built, but with limited drive and pull for adoption. In extreme cases, the wrong functionality is built-it's exciting to demonstrate to senior leaders and wins awards externally but ultimately creates no bottom-line impact.

Increase the focus on business outcomes, not digital activity. Too often, banks manage the progress of their digital transformations by tracking activity metrics, such as the number of app downloads and log-in rates. Such metrics are inadequate proxies for business value. Banks must set clear aspirations for value outcomes, looking at productivity, servicing-unit costs, and lead-conversion rates, and link these explicitly to digital investments. Only then will the collective focus be on shaping the right actions to fully capture the value available.

Formulate and implement a people vision. Finally, you need a vision for the role of employees in the new digital reality. This takes two forms: expectations of how they spend their time and how they work alongside the new technologies, and clarity on what technology competencies they need to develop. Digital transformation will clearly diminish the importance of some roles, which is why many employees will view it as a threat and be resistant to the change that digital brings. However, it also shifts the focus of many workers' time toward higher-value tasks, creating exciting new opportunities for development. For example, relationship managers will spend less time capturing customer details and more time giving valuable advice. Additionally, deeper awareness of the technical capabilities available and how they can affect processes will be a prerequisite to effectively manage in this new world. Business leaders need to be conversant in how technology can be leveraged to address commercial challenges. You cannot rely on bringing in new talent from digitally savvy industries to transform your bank. New talent provides an important stimulus, but digital needs to become a new management competence across the organization.

Digitization will change the traditional retail-banking business model, in some cases radically. The good news is that there is plenty of upside awaiting those European banks willing to embrace it. The bad news is that change is coming whether or not banks are ready.

About the author(s)

Tunde Olanrewaju is a principal in McKinsey's London office. This article was originally published in the Financial Times on October 25, 2013 (ft.com).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As European consumers move online, retail banks will have to follow. The problem is that most banks aren't ready. Across Europe, retail banks have digitized only 20 to 40 percent of their processes; 90 percent of European banks invest less than 0.5 percent of their total spending on digital.

# data[].attributes.headline
Murdoch's bid is designed to be a bulwark against new media players

# data[].attributes.subject
Murdoch's bid is designed to be a bulwark against new media players

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Media Equation

When the news broke on Wednesday that 21st Century Fox, Rupert Murdoch's huge media and entertainment company, made an $80 billion offer to buy Time Warner Inc., another big media conglomerate, it seemed like a seismic jolt in the business landscape. If the deal is ever consummated, 21st Century Fox, a public company in name only that the Murdoch family essentially controls, would oversee much of the content consumed by Americans.

But the path and logic to this potential merger had already been cleared. In 2011, when Comcast, the nation's biggest cable company, bought NBCUniversal, one of four broadcast networks and a movie company to boot, the merger won easy approval. Then this February, Comcast announced plans to buy Time Warner Cable, the second-biggest cable company, in a deal that would give Comcast control of 40 percent of the broadband in the United States.

Everybody waited for regulators to finally signal that things were getting out of hand. That shoe never dropped.

Those moves have had some unintended, but predictable, consequences. Comcast's bold strategy of acquisition kicked off a wave of defensive consolidation, fueled by a combination of fear and abundant capital in the media realm.

I talked to the head of one company that creates television and movies, who expressed a common sentiment. "When Comcast decided to get bigger," he said, "we all had to ask ourselves, Are we big enough? We all have to think about getting bigger."

And why not? No one is stopping them.

With big data, a Big Brother government and now big media, size creates its own prerogatives. When Amazon used its market dominance to limit access to Hachette books over a price dispute, regulators yawned. When AT&T and DirecTV propose a tie-up in response to Comcast, the market issues are just another deal point. Cable companies slowed down content from clients (which are also competitors) like Netflix, and it was treated as a business dispute.

For the most part, the current government has passed on regulating potential monopolies, and as citizens, we have become inured to the consequences of bigness. With technology behemoths like Facebook and Google owning part of our everyday lives, we can't get too wound up about which media outfit owns Conan O'Brien's show.

The giant market capitalizations and market power residing in Silicon Valley have rippled into the rest of the economy. The people behind this sudden surge of proposed media mergers say they are only going on steroids to avoid getting sand kicked in their face by even bigger bullies in the technology world. Comcast will contend that it is not just competing with Cablevision and Charter Communications, but also with Google, Amazon and Apple. And people who make programming will assert that they are trying to grow just so they do not get pushed around by Comcast.

Image

Brian Roberts, left, chief of Comcast, and Jeffrey Zucker, then chief of NBCUniversal, in 2010. Credit Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Like the dragons in HBO's "Game of Thrones," big new digital players are hovering over the media landscape. You don't want to be wandering around with a tiny sword if your adversaries are airborne and fire-breathing. Many suggest that the only hedge in a consolidating world is high-quality content.

"Rupert did not try to buy Time Warner because he wants to get to own a bunch of cable networks," Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research said. "He clearly feels that as other players try to enter the media business, content will be more valuable and he wants to get his hands on as much content as possible."

Beyond bigness, there is no compelling logic driving a merger of Time Warner and 21st Century Fox. They are about the same size and neither would be filling strategic holes in the other's portfolio. But at 83, Mr. Murdoch continues to be a man in a hurry, and he likes to stir the pot.

Time Warner's chief executive, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, is in the position of seller and not buyer because selling is what he has mostly done since taking over in 2008. In an effort to raise the company's stock price, Mr. Bewkes has spun off what he either could not or did not want to run. AOL, Time Warner Cable and most recently, Time Inc., have all been given the heave-ho, and the market has applauded every move - Time Warner's stock has nearly doubled in the last two years.

But that has left a company once thought of as a behemoth as takeover bait. The same things that make it attractive to Wall Street - a pure-play television and movie company - make it attractive to buyers as well. When you are not actively building a business, there's a pretty good chance you will end up as a brick in someone else's.

Mr. Bewkes has complained in the past that if the Comcast merger passes regulatory muster, which seems likely given the company's close ties to Washington, Comcast will have too much leverage in negotiations over programming and will own much of the consumer data that now drives programming decisions. But he has to ask himself, Who put Time Warner Cable into play in the first place? In the end, he was outrun by Comcast, which always seems to be a few steps ahead.

And who is to say whether sometime soon, perhaps if Time Warner stays up for grabs, one of the Silicon Valley players will simply buy its own content factory instead of negotiating for rights with those already in the business? As silly and inefficient as the Hollywood system is - pilot season anyone? - no one else has determined how to make mass entertainment, other than the N.F.L.

Think about it. Amazon, Apple and Google have all promised to remake the television experience in some way, and so far, not much has happened. Google, through YouTube, spent $100 million on developing its own channels and stars, but does not have much to show for it. The best Apple has come up with is a better way to navigate the same old pile of shows. And Amazon's efforts at creating its own series - crowdsourced choices and all - have not shown signs of clicking.

If you can't render them irrelevant, why not buy them?

Of course, the execution risks are considerable. When I first started covering this beat at the turn of the century, it was clear that paradigms were shifting and the existing players had to respond, to do something, anything, to meet the coming challenge. That's when AOL and Time Warner decided to merge.

Correction:

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article contained outdated information. Jeffrey Zucker, who is shown in the photograph with Brian Roberts of Comcast, is president of CNN Worldwide, not chief executive of NBCUniversal (at the time the picture was taken, in 2010, he was chief of NBCUniversal).

Email: carr@nytimes.com; Twitter: @carr2n

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
In Modern Media Realm, Big Mergers Are a Bulwark Against Rivals

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Media Equation When the news broke on Wednesday that 21st Century Fox, Rupert Murdoch's huge media and entertainment company, made an $80 billion offer to buy Time Warner Inc., another big media conglomerate, it seemed like a seismic jolt in the business landscape.

# data[].attributes.headline
Rupert Murdoch bidding to buy Time Warner

# data[].attributes.subject
Rupert Murdoch bidding to buy Time Warner

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After a two-week hiatus that had some wondering if he'd gone for good, Rupert Murdoch is back on Twitter. "Sorry, I have been busy lately with many preoccupations!" he tweeted last Thursday, a day after it emerged what those preoccupations were. Murdoch had been organising the biggest deal of his storied career: an $80bn bid for Time Warner by 21st Century Fox, his entertainment conglomerate. If successful it would create a media behemoth encompassing some of the most popular, and lucrative, movies and TV shows on the planet, including Avatar, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and X-Men.

The 83-year old is currently in Australia and after a bleak period in both his personal and professional life seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself: "Relaxing at last. Few hours in magnificent Aussie bush. Ewes lambing, cows calving, great season. Later hoping show off mobs of kangaroos," he tweeted shortly after breaking his silence.

Murdoch is once more making the sort of news he'd prefer to be remembered for: the last of the media moguls throwing what is probably his last big roll of the dice. A gamble that could hand his children control of a media giant that, he hopes, will be his real legacy.

But even if he pulls it off, will this be a deal to really ensure his legacy? There's a reason media moguls aren't what they used to be - the companies they run are less powerful too. Disney, Fox, Time Warner, Viacom - are all big businesses, but Google and Apple are each worth more than the combined market values of the media firms. Alongside Amazon, the tech titans are today's true global giants, reshaping the media landscape in ways that Murdoch can only dream of.

Then there are the companies that deliver that content. Comcast, the US's largest cable company and owner of NBC Universal, is valued at close to twice as much as Fox. Soon, probably, it will be even bigger if Washington allows it to swallow Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable firm, which was spun off from TW itself in 2009.

The logic behind the deal is that a bigger company with all these big brands will be able to talk tougher terms with the Comcasts of the world. Inevitably someone will soon start using the word "synergies".

It's an arguable point. High-profile cable TV channels such as Time Warner's HBO make their own deals and their fortunes rise and fall with the content they create. Lumping HBO in with Fox's FX might give it extra leverage - smooth out those less successful seasons when it launches The Newsroom rather than Game of Thrones - or it might not. Eighty billion dollars seems a high stake for that bet, and it's only likely to get higher.

One thing's for sure: the bankers are excited. "We believe this transaction makes strategic and financial sense - even at $100 a share," Marci Ryvicker, a senior media analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in a research note last week. If Fox were to offer $100 a share, instead of the $85 rejected by Time Warner last week, the deal would be valued at $91bn. With Time Warner in play, other suitors are likely to emerge and the price could go higher still. How much is Murdoch prepared to pay for the capstone of his career?

Globally, the two companies are probably most famous for their movie studios. Warner Bros films accounted for about 17% of the US box office last year, according to an analysis by the research firm MoffettNathanson. Fox's films represented 11% of the market.

Fox is currently top of the box office thanks to the strong performance from films including X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Fault in Our Stars. Warner Bros is number two with The Lego Movie and Godzilla among this year's successes.

These days the film studios play second fiddle to the cable TV networks at both companies - as they do at Disney and Viacom as well. The main reason Murdoch covets Time Warner is for its prestigious cable channels - HBO, TBS, TNT - and its broadcast TV hits. Fox plans to sell off CNN if the deal goes ahead to pacify the regulators, who may fret about Fox controlling too much news. The combined group would also control more than a third of the output of scripted shows on the major broadcast networks, bringing together hits including Warner's Big Bang Theory and Fox's Modern Family and Family Guy.

The deal would also give Fox the opportunity to acquire more sport rights to help the fledgling Fox Sports 1 network compete with Disney's powerhouse ESPN. Time Warner's sports-rights assets include NBA basketball, major league baseball and PGA championship golf. "It's the most important programming out there and probably gets more important as everything else fragments," Chase Carey, the president and chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox, said in a conference call in February.

So far Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner's chief executive, has shown little interest in Murdoch's ambitions. In many ways Bewkes is the anti-Murdoch and an example of how the media landscape has changed. He's a seller of businesses, not a buyer. Under his tenure, Time Warner has unwound its disastrous merger with internet provider AOL, sold off the cable assets, and pitched Time magazine and the publishing business over the side. Bewkes is a numbers man. He has an ego - which chief executive doesn't? - but empire-building is not what gets him out of bed in the morning.

Time Warner sat out the fight for NBC Universal, the last time a media asset of this size was on the block. After Comcast won that war, Bewkes told a TV industry conference: "Somebody has finally noticed that these things don't work out so well. We love to see our competitors taking risks." It's not a remark one can imagine Murdoch making.

Time Warner's rebuff of Murdoch's approaches highlighted where Bewkes sees the weak points in Fox's strategy. The price was too low, the company said. On Friday, Time Warner's shares were at $86, already above Fox's $85 offer. Nor were the shares being offered to Bewkes's liking.

So far Fox's offer has been made largely in non-voting shares, which would mean Time Warner shareholders effectively handing control to Murdoch, who has signalled that he plans to install one of his sons as his replacement. "There is significant risk and uncertainty as to the valuation of 21st Century Fox's non-voting stock and 21st Century Fox's ability to govern and manage a combination of the size and scale of 21st Century Fox and Time Warner," the company said when it rejected the offer.

The company's comment was a clear warning that Murdoch's legal woes could still come back to haunt him even as he seeks a deal that will eclipse the memory of the hacking scandal.

It's difficult enough for any merger to succeed. One KPMG study found that 83% of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) failed to enhance shareholder value and the accountancy firm argued that culture clash was often a major reason why deals failed to work out. Time Warner and 21st Century Fox are very different companies. It's going to take more than $80bn to convince TW's number-crunching, downsizing, risk-averse boss that Fox is a good fit.

Anthony DiClemente, media analyst at Nomura, sees a number of reasons why the deal makes sense, including the power to broker better deals with the cable companies and the new generation of web-based TV services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and save money on distribution in film. But he still believes Bewkes was right to reject the offer at $85 a share.

Alongside the price and possible regulatory concerns, he cites the Murdoch family as a possible deal-breaker for Time Warner: "It is possible that the [Time Warner] board has concerns about the leadership of the new company. The new company will be controlled by the Murdoch family, and chief executive and chief operating officer succession plans are not exactly clear. As of now, Rupert Murdoch is chief executive of [Fox], Chase Carey is president and chief operating officer, and James Murdoch is co-chief operating officer. The thornier questions would be, what is the succession plan here, and where might Mr Bewkes fit in?"

Everything is for sale at the right price, especially for a potential seller like Bewkes. Now it remains to be seen just how much Murdoch wants this deal to go ahead.

Cannily, he has made the move as some of his rivals are busy with deals of their own: Comcast has Time Warner Cable, AT&T is planning to merge with satellite broadcaster DirecTV. But DiClementi also wonders whether, having put Time Warner in play, Murdoch has invited in the new moguls.

"At some point, technology companies such as Google or Amazon or Apple may begin to identify the value of professional content - and rather than licence that content, they may attempt to acquire a media content company," he writes.

"Given its investments in Google Fiber, Chromecast, YouTube, and Google Play platform, it seems YouTube wants to get involved in the living room."

Murdoch's final deal could be undone by the moguls who have come to replace him.
Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fox, Time Warner, and Rupert Murdoch's last game of thrones

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After a two-week hiatus that had some wondering if he'd gone for good, Rupert Murdoch is back on Twitter. "Sorry, I have been busy lately with many preoccupations!" he tweeted last Thursday, a day after it emerged what those preoccupations were.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Everybody needs to get dressed in the morning, and everybody wants to be something because of that effort. It's an inevitable and inescapable text in our lives, whether we see it as fashion, or downgraded to clothing, or upgraded to personal style," said Sally Singer, former Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times Style Magazine and now Creative Digital Director at Vogue, in an interview with AnOther in 2012.

Meanwhile, European online retail sales are expected to climb to 233.9 billion euros by 2018 and clothing will continue to be the dominating online sales category, according to a recent Forrester forecast.

And yet, despite the obvious market potential, startups in this segment are still often dismissed as frivolous ventures in the tech industry. What gives?

There's no doubt that trivial fashion startups exist - as in any other entrepreneurial category.

However, as technological innovation continues to bring incredible amounts of change to the world of fashion, we're seeing many European companies with the potential to (re)shape this space, particularly in fashion e-commerce.

Unsurprisingly, a good chunk of them hail from fashion capitals such London, where veteran online retailers ASOS and Net-a-Porter are based, and Paris.

Whether it be flash sales, online consignment, social curation or online marketplaces, fashion eCommerce startups in various forms are trying to crack the market.

Here, we highlight 20 promising European fashion eCommerce companies (in no particular order, with HQ in Europe and a version of its site available in English) hoping to transform the industry:
1) Zalando
Headquarters: Berlin, Germany

Gist: Founded in 2008 by David Schneider and Robert Gentz, Zalando has quickly grown to become one of Europe's largest online retailer with 13.5 million active customers. It's estimated that the company is worth 3.8 billion euros. Additionally, Zalando is reportedly aiming to go public this October.
2) Farfetch
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Sleekly designed eCommerce site Farfetch, founded in 2008, brings together a curated selection of independent fashion boutiques from Europe and North America on its platform. In April, the company raised $66 million to fuel its expansion in the US, Brazil and Asia.
3) Spartoo
Headquarters: Grenoble, France

Gist: Founded in 2006, European online footwear retailer Spartoo is often dubbed the 'Zappos of Europe'. The company is present in more than 20 countries and claims to be backed by up to 45 million euros from French investment banks.
4) Vinted
Headquarters: Vilnius, Lithuania

Gist: Online second-hand marketplace Vinted was founded in 2008 as a desktop application in Lithuania, but has since gone mobile and entered six additional markets (Germany, France, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and the US). In January, Vinted received $27 million in Series B funding.

Headquarters: Paris, France

Gist: Founded by Sébastien Fabre and Sophie Hersan in 2009, Vestiaire collective is an online marketplace with a focus on buying and selling pre-owned luxury fashion products. Last September, the French startup collected $20 million from Condé Nast, alongside previous investors.
6) Lyst
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Founded in 2010, Lyst has built a platform that aggregates inventory from thousands of brands, boutiques and department stores. The company announced a $14 million funding round earlier this year and aims to take its eCommerce experience into the brick-and-mortar realm.
7) Navabi
Headquarters: Aachen, Germany

Gist: Selling products from designer brands - such as Roberto Cavalli - as well as its own label, Navabi is an online retailer for plus-size fashion. Last December, Navabi, which was founded in 2007, raised a 10 million euro Series C round led by Index Ventures.
8) Miinto
Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark

Gist: Developed by Mike Radoo and Konrad Kierklo in 2009, Miinto aims to do for brick-and-mortar fashion boutiques what what online food delivery company JustEat does for restaurants. The firm secured $6 million in Series A funding in August 2012.
9) Nuji
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Launched in 2011, social shopping startup Nuji - which competes with Lyst in the UK - offers a platform for users to share and curate fashion and lifestyle products. In March, Nuji closed a $2 million seed round from TAG, Seedcamp alongside undisclosed angels.
10) Showroom
Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland

Gist: Online fashion marketplace Showroom curates a selection of independent brands and designers on its site. In 2012, fashion giant Burda International - the publisher behind Elle - took a 25% stake in the company after an undisclosed investment..
11) VideDressing
Headquarters: Paris, France

Gist: Launched in 2009 by Meryl job and Renaud Guillerm, VideDressing is an online secondhand fashion marketplace focusing on high-end items and a free returns policy. Most recently, the startup received an undisclosed amount of funding from the Samwer Brothers' Global Founders Capital (GFC) fund.
12) Girl Meets Dress
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Online fashion rental service Girl Meets Dress, founded in 2009 by Anna Bance and Xavier de Lecaros-Aquise, is an example of the collaborative consumption trend in the industry. The startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Samwer Brother's GFC fund alongside VideDressing in August 2013.
13) MonShowRoom
Headquarters: Paris, France

Gist: Founded in 2006 by Séverine Grégoire and Chloé Ramade, MonShowRoom is an online fashion portal dedicated to selling current season products (as opposed to past products on a discount). The firm received 4.3 million euros February in 2009.

Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Founded in 2007, flash fashion sales site Secretsales works with over 600 brands to provide users with new sales every day. In April, the company raised £4.5 million in its third round of funding.
15) Dymant
Headquarters: Paris, France

Gist: Invite-only eCommerce site Dymant offers members access to exclusive artisanal products. The French startup, which received $1.4 million in backing, works with craftsmen to design and sell limited-edition products to its customers.
16) Chic by Choice
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Pan-European fashion rental site Chic by Choice lets users hire-out designer dresses at 85% off retail price. Alongside the startup's launch to the public last month, Chic by Choice announced a 500,000 euro seed round.
17) Rad

Headquarters: Paris, France

Gist: Fashion discovery platform Rad - a competitor to Lyst and Nuji - was founded by Anthony Serero, Julia Serero, Simon Amazalag and David Smadja. Launched in July 2012, Rad's current business model focuses on 'flash sales' .
18) Mallzee
Headquarters: Edinburgh, UK

Gist: Personalized shopping app Mallzee takes a Tinder-esque approach to fashion, but instead of swiping an 'X' or '<3', users have the option to 'Share' or 'Buy'. In May, it announced a a £500,000 seed round.
19) Stylect
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Another startup taking a page from Tinder is Stylect, which is essentially a Tinder for shoe shopping. Founded in 2013, the startup has raised a total of £320,000 in funding.
20) The Chapar
Headquarters: London, UK

Gist: Father-son entrepreneurial duo Joe and Same Middleton launched The Chapar, a personal styling service and eCommerce site for men, in 2012. The startup is reportedly backed privately.

Know any other fashion startups that should definitely be on our radar?

Let us know!

UPDATE: Here's a couple more European fashion e-commerce startups, suggested by Tech.eu readers (thanks!), that fit into our criteria:

Stylight (Munich, Germany) - Founded in 2008, Stylight is an online platform curating a selection of fashion trends, inspiration and products from online shops and boutiques. The startup secured a multi-million euro Series B round last January.

Carnet de Mode (Paris, France) - Online fashion marketplace Carnet de Mode, founded in 2011, features mostly collections of young and emerging designers. Last May, the French startup raised a $1.5 million Series A.

Thread (London, UK) - Online personal styling service Thread, founded in 2012, has garnered the attention of influential investors, advisors and retail partners. The company has raised $2.5 million in seed funding.

The Cloakroom (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - Similar to Thread, The Cloakroom is an online personal shopping service, but catered to men. Users receive a customized box selected by a personal shopper and pay for the items they choose to keep. Launched last year, the startup recently announced a 1.2 million euro funding round.

Chicisimo (Valencia, Spain) - Founded in 2010, Chicisimo is a fashion community that recently launched a "social shopping system" to its site. Essentially, the new features allows users to tag their style looks with links to product pages.

Wheretoget (Paris, France) - Dubbing itself the "Shazam for fashion", Wheretoget is a community for fashion enthusiasts founded in 2011. How it works: users upload an image of an outfit they like and the startup's community responds with suggestions on where to get the pieces (or similar ones). Wheretoget raised 1.4 million euros in May.

Featured image credit: Anton Oparin / Shutterstock.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Here's 20 fashion e-commerce startups to watch in Europe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Everybody needs to get dressed in the morning, and everybody wants to be something because of that effort. It's an inevitable and inescapable text in our lives, whether we see it as fashion, or downgraded to clothing, or upgraded to personal style," said Sally Singer, former Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times Style Magazine and now Creative Digital Director at Vogue, in an interview with AnOther in 2012.

# data[].attributes.headline
The development of Starbucks mobile and payments programme

# data[].attributes.subject
The development of Starbucks mobile and payments programme

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A decade after the idea was first sketched on the proverbial drawing board, Starbucks is poised to finally let its customers order their coffees from their phones. And the company's plans for building on its wildly successful mobile app don't stop there.

The Seattle-based coffee giant, which said in March that more than 14 percent of purchases in its U.S. stores are paid for through its app, will allow customers in one undisclosed geographic test market to start placing pickup orders from the Starbucks app later this year, according to the company's Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman. This should not be confused as an experiment, Brotman made clear. Starbucks is determined to eventually roll out the technology nationwide, no matter how long it takes.

"We will do this and we will get it right," Brotman told Re/code in an interview following his onstage appearance on Wednesday morning at Fortune magazine's technology conference in Aspen, Colorado.

The initiative comes at a time when Americans are increasingly turning to apps on their phones to order products and services to be picked up or brought to them. Cab-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft have taken major cities by storm, while food chains like Chipotle enjoy high usage for their order-ahead feature. Then there are apps from companies such as GrubHub, Tapingo and Square that allow people to order food and beverages from a variety of different smaller food and drink establishments. Purchases made in Starbucks stores with credit or debit cards run through Square's payments platform, but transactions in Starbucks' app do not.

With the momentum building for mobile ordering, Starbucks does not want to watch from the sidelines any longer. Customers have been requesting the functionality for the past few years, but only recently did Starbucks feel that its technology and in-store operations were strong enough to enter the fray, Brotman said. If executed well, Starbucks believes the feature will make current customers even more loyal to the coffee chain, giving them an option to avoid long waits during busier hours.

The move certainly comes with risks. One sour experience - an order isn't ready or has been sitting too long - is enough to leave a persistent bad taste in the mouth of a customer.

The beverage Starbucks is best known for also adds an additional layer of complexity. Have coffee sit too long, and a customer who ordered ahead will arrive to a cold cup of joe. Starbucks, of course, knows this, and has been testing the order-ahead process inside a model store in its Seattle headquarters, Brotman said. The company is also conducting tests to determine how long it takes for different brews to cool.

"We're trying to get things down to a science," he said. Still, he acknowledged that new problems will arise when the feature rolls out to the real world, so the company is spending as much time creating plans for responding to problems as it is trying to craft a perfect process.

The team behind the initiative consists of employees from across various Starbucks divisions - from store operations to IT - and meets with Brotman once a week.

"It's the most cross-functional team I've ever worked on and the most important project I've ever worked on," Brotman said.

Simultaneously, Starbucks is in talks with potential partners to allow its customers to use the Starbucks app as a payment instrument in other stores, Brotman said. The talks also include discussions about potentially extending Starbucks' customer loyalty program to other companies, too. Such a move could vault Starbucks into competition as a so-called digital wallet: An app that aims to let shoppers pay for goods with their phone at a wide range of disparate brick-and-mortar stores. Brotman declined to name the companies Starbucks is having discussions with.

While some might question whether it's smart for Starbucks to stray from its core competency, Brotman says the company believes that extending the Starbucks payment and loyalty program beyond its own coffee shops will likely increase usage of the app as well as affinity for the Starbucks brand.

"We want to get mobile ordering right first, but you could be hearing more about us in the mobile wallet or universal loyalty space sooner than later," Brotman said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Starbucks Has Bigger Plans in Mobile Payments Than Most People Realize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A decade after the idea was first sketched on the proverbial drawing board, Starbucks is poised to finally let its customers order their coffees from their phones. And the company's plans for building on its wildly successful mobile app don't stop there.